As George Osborne insists the UK economy is 'turning a corner' here are other confident predictions through the years that turned out to be spectacularly wrong.

Stock Market Crash

American economist Irving Fisher confidently predicted that "stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau" in 1929. Unfortunately he made this statement just three days before the Stock Market Crash of the same year. Even as the Crash took hold followed by the Great Depression, Fisher continued to reassure investors that recovery was just around the corner.

iPhone

Mere months before the first iPhone was released in 2007 Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, said, "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance." Apple has sold more than 116 million iPhones this year alone. Ballmer has soldiered on at Microsoft but it was announced last month that he is to retire within the year

Y2K bug

For years before the stroke of midnight heralded in the new millennium, analysts were convinced it would cause destruction. The American deputy Secretary of Defence John Hamre said it would be the "electronic equivalent of the El Nino." The mass hysteria stemmed from the fact that computer systems were built to record dates using only the last two digits of each year so they could recognise '77' as '1977' but '00' would set them into a tailspin. Hundreds of billions of pounds were spent on making software 'Y2K compliant' but all fears were unfounded with very few recorded malfunctions.

The Beatles

In 1962 the Beatles auditioned for Decca Records and were rejected. An executive told the band's manager Brian Epstein, "the Beatles have no future in Showbusiness." He went on to explain, "Groups are out; four-piece groups with guitars, particularly, are finished." Decca records selected the local band Brian Poole and the Tremeloes for their label instead and the Beatles became one of the greatest bands of all time

Internet shopping

In 1966 Time Magazine imagined what the world might look like in the year 2000. Among other prediction it said: “Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop – because women like to get out of the house, like to handle merchandise." Online shopping has not turned out to be a flop- men and women flock to it. Currently UK online retail sales stand at approximately £586.6m per week

Sinking of the Titanic

Phillip Franklin, vice president of the White Star Line which produced the RMS Titanic predicted that it would never sink. He said: "There is no danger that Titanic will sink. The boat is unsinkable and nothing but inconvenience will be suffered by the passengers." On hearing of the Titanic's demise he simply said: "I do not understand it". Franklin was among many, including the ship's captain, who made the same prediction.

The Great Storm

The prediction that made Michael Fish famous was also the one that made him infamous, because it was wrong. In 1987 He cheerfully told BBC viewers that they had nothing to be concerned about after a woman had phoned to ask about whether a hurricane was on its way. He said: "Earlier on today, a woman rang the BBC and said she'd heard that there was a hurricane on the way. Well if you're watching, don't worry – there isn't.". Mere hours later gale force winds of up to 122mph battered Britain, caused £1.8 billion of damage and killed 19 people. Fish has been dogged by questions about the Great Storm incident to this day but insists no one was to blame.